The Executive Director of the Parliamentary Network Africa (PNAfrica), Sammy Obeng, has called on the government to demonstrate commitment to passing the Affirmative Action Bill into law.
According to Mr Obeng, though successive governments had not shown commitment to the passage of the Bill, the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led administration must be different.
Speaking at a high-level breakfast meeting on the Gender Advocacy to Parliament Project (GAP) in Accra on Friday, Mr Obeng said it was time the government presented the Bill to Parliament for legislative scrutiny before this parliament expires in January 2025.
He said President Akufo-Addo’s earlier pledges to present the Bill to the House was refreshing, but must be backed with action.
“We’ve heard the President time and again come to Parliament, even during State of the Nation Address, promising and giving timelines that have never worked.
“And until that gets done and laid in Parliament, there is little that the legislature can do,” he stated.
With the life of the Eighth Parliament in sight and several bills before it, Mr Obeng said the time to lay the Bill was now.
“Depending on the time that it will come to Parliament, the period between now and when Parliament rise will determine whether the House will be able to pick it. So it rests heavily with the executive,” he added.
Civil Society, he said, must not give up the fight in putting pressure on the government to present the Bill to the House because without sufficient pressure the presentation and expected passage of the Bill would remain a mirage.
Some female Members of Parliament who were at the event said if the Bill was passed into law, it would ensure greater equality of women at the decision-making table for national development.
They included MPs for Asokwa, Patricia Appiagyei; Ketu South, Dzifa Abla Gomashie; Ablekuma North, Sheila Bartels; Pusiga, Laadi Ayamba and La Dadekotopon, Rita Naa Odoley Sowah.
The GAP Project, funded by the French Embassy in Ghana, aims to strengthen gender-based CSOs’ engagement with women MPs continuously.
Its objectives include facilitating better parliamentary advocacy for adopting laws and policies that promote equality, non-discrimination, gender equity, gender parity, and the rights of women and girls.
The meeting sought to establish a collaborative platform for CSOs and parliamentarians to work together effectively, ultimately empowering women and achieving gender equality in Ghana’s Parliament.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
